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Animator Profile

Jan Srankmajer

Jan Srankmajer ( 1934-)


I never call myself an animated filmmaker because I am interested not in animation techniques or creating a complete illusion, but in bringing life to everyday objects.

Going on his statement about him self, if nothing else, he is a man of vision. Bringing life to things is no small feet, but is an art in its own right. Most would still call this animation and him an animator due to the out come of his work and how we view it. He seems to be questioning the concept of animation or if nothing else views his own work in a way that, us, the viewers can not comprehend.

While he dues not see him self as an animator one can not wonder then, if hes not an animator what is he? He dues what he says, making objects come to life with is own hands, but is that not still animation? His work has a nightmarish feel that is somewhat chilling and could hardly be seen as anything else. However, when one think on his statement one can not help but look again and almost feel a link to his work.

Alice, his remake of Alice In Wonder Land, is definitely not for children. This film was a master peace of the nightmare of his work. Of all the ways to adapt ''Alice in Wonderland,'' the most perverse, it seems, would be to peel back its genteel Victorian veneer.(James, 1988) However true to him self he was in making this film, one cannot but wonder what was going through his mind? Its masterful how he was able to see the objects and make them come to life but whats the point if it becomes to unbarable for the audience? However what do expect from him as he has always been the same. Nobody who has seen even one of Svankmajer's shorts is likely to doubt that the Czech surrealist would make the definitive version of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. For no other film-maker - and that includes David Lynch - is so consistently inventive in his ability to marry pure, startling nonsense with rigorous logic, black wit with piercing psychological insights. (Andrew, 2006)

Bibliography
James.C, 1988, The New York Times [online] At: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940DEED91631F930A3575BC0A96E948260& partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes (accessed 3-4-12) Andrew,G,. 2006, Time Out [online] At: http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/77689/alice.html (accessed 3-4-12)

Illustrations
Figure one. Jan Srankmajer, [online image] At: http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/cast_member/458/original.pn g (accessed 3-4-12)

Figure two. Dimensions of Dialogue [online image] At: http://images.greencine.com/images/article/cz-dialogue.jpg (accessed 3-4-12) Figure three. Jan Creating. [online image] At: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvee36DLK01qeotlho1_400.jpg (accessed 3-4-12)

Figure four. Alice [online image] At: http://www.jansvankmajer.com/images/necozalenky4.jpg (accessed 3-4-12)

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